Thank you Aurora Borealis - Polar Lights, johnnydeppluver89, and VampiresRule103 for your reviews!
5: Near-Death Experiences
A few minutes later, Jack was rummaging through the treasure strewn everywhere as Barbossa commented,
"I must admit, Jack, I thought I had ye figured. But it turns out that you're a hard man to predict."
-Really? I didn't notice. Hmm, five pirates, not including Barbossa…we might be able to get out of this-
"Me?" Jack quickly said. "I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones, even the partially honest ones, you want to watch out for," at this, he looked at Will and Laura, who had the lack of luck in being tied up, "because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly…stupid."
Laura's jaw went slightly slack.
-I thought I at least partly knew you, Jack-
Suddenly, Jack unsheathed one of the pirates' swords and tossed it to Will.
He then began fighting with Barbossa.
Meanwhile, Laura ducked the sword of the pirate who had been guarding her before Will released himself and cut her bonds.
Finding a sword sticking out of a treasure-pile, the girl grabbed it and put it to use in defending herself.
A few minutes later, the fighters ceased their motion to stare at an undead Jack standing in the moonlight flooding through a hole in the cave roof.
As he played with one of the cursed coins, he stated,
"Couldn't resist, mate. Sorry."
Instantly, the fighting recommenced.
One of the pirates grabbed Will at the same time Laura was in the middle of battling three foes. The fifth enemy had been temporarily taken care of.
"I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain," the attacker said before he was hit from behind.
"Do you like pain?" Elizabeth asked. "Try wearing a corset."
"Elizabeth!" Laura called, getting away from her two conscious aggressors for the moment. "I'm glad you made it. I was getting worried when we didn't have reinforcements."
When the governor's daughter saw Jack still as a skeleton, she questioned,
"Who's side is Jack on?"
"At the moment?" Will asked right back.
Laura couldn't help but laugh as she occupied the remaining pirate-sailors.
Because of this, Will and Elizabeth were able to stick golden pole through all three briefly skeleton pirates before putting a grenade into the ribcage of the middle one and pushing them out of the moonlight.
They promptly blew up.
Jack then cut his hand and bled on his medallion as Will did the same and ran up to the chest.
After catching the medallion thrown to him by the captain, Laura's brother suspended his arm over the chest.
Jack then pointed his pistol at Barbossa while the latter did the same to Laura.
Fortunately, Jack pulled the trigger first.
Barbossa sighed.
"Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot."
"He didn't waste it," Will contradicted just before he dropped both medallions into the chest.
Barbossa dropped his sword and ripped his jacket open to reveal blood flowing out of the bullet's entry sight.
"I feel," he wondered, "…cold."
He then fell over backwards, dead.
Laura walked over to Elizabeth, who was staring at the cave wall.
"Miss Swann," the pirate respectfully addressed her, "I don't pretend to know anything detailed about you, Will, or love, but I do advise you to follow your heart, not society, in this matter."
Elizabeth pretended to ignore the suggestion as Will approached her.
Laura walked a small distance away to observe Jack hoarding the treasure, though she took no part in it.
"We should return to the Dauntless," Elizabeth said to Will.
"Your fiancé will be wanting to know you're safe," he replied, clearly put down about the fact.
The woman then turned away from Will and walked slowly towards Laura, who was staring at the chest.
-To think that this piece of history caused all of this trouble, as well as the trouble in my personal life-
She saw Jack whisper something to Will before swaggering off, piled with treasure, and soon followed by Will.
"Now, if you'll be so kind," the pirate was saying, "I'd be much obliged if you'd drop me off on my ship."
"Laura," Elizabeth began just as the men disappeared around the first corner, "I'm curious. You're a pirate, are you not? If pirates are as obsessed with treasure as I hear, why did you not collect as much as possible like Jack?"
Laura chuckled.
"Elizabeth," she answered, "what makes you think that all pirates originally wanted to be pirates? I admit, like every adventurous child, I occasionally daydreamed of adventuring with pirates on the sea; however, I myself spent my first twelve years in England with a decent family. Unfortunately, before I was even a teenager, my father and brother disappeared and my mother died. In hopes that I could find the male half of family, I decided to take to the seas. I won't go into what I went through up to now, but my adventures soon led me to piracy. Now, enough of my rambling! We should head to the boat. Jack and Will are waiting."
She then led a bewildered Elizabeth to the boat.
Reaching the cave's opening, they saw that the Pearl was gone.
"I'm sorry, Jack," Elizabeth said sympathetically.
"They done what's right by them," he replied sadly. "Can't expect more than that."
-And I almost forgot our danger of being hanged-
--
During that night and the next day, Jack and Laura were shipped to Port Royal and stuck into the repaired brig while a scaffold was built outside for a morning hanging.
At around midnight, Laura gave up trying to find a weakness in the reinforced door.
"Well, Jack," she said, "there's no way out tonight, unless Will comes by with another escape. Do you happen to have a plan, yet, for tomorrow?"
The sleepless man on the other side of the bench shook his head.
"Not yet, luv."
"At least Davy Jones won't get us," she finished, actually finding comfort in her own words.
Jack chuckled.
"At least there's that."
--
The next morning, after having gotten a bit of sleep, the pirates were brought into the morning sun with their hands tied behind their backs.
As she was pushed up to the gallows, Laura tested the ropes only to discover that they were securely tied.
While the prisoners stood next to the nooses, the official began,
"Jack Sparrow, be it known that…"
"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow," Jack quietly corrected.
Laura breathed a laugh as the official kept rambling on with Jack's crimes.
"…smuggling, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England…"
"Ah, yes," the captain stated as he recalled his impersonation.
"Jack," the girl said, "if they ramble on like this for only your crimes, we won't be hanged until noon."
The man next to her quietly laughed at the idea.
"…poaching…and general lawlessness…
Laura Lark," the reader finally went on.
"Finally," Laura joked.
"…piracy, smuggling, arson…"
"Hey," the pirates muttered with mock offence, "that wasn't even my fault."
The official continued on with Laura's offences almost as long and the same as with Jack, except half of the "crimes" she had committed were not completely her fault and had been done for generally a good reason.
One of those had been the incident where she "committed" arson: A woman was being chased by thief of the murdering sorts. The lady had barely lived in what anyone could actually call a house anyway. So, Laura, who had witnessed the lady being chased and run out of her home, set the building on fire, saving the woman and killing her attacker (though she really tried to save him). Unfortunately, Laura had been blamed for arson and murder simply for saving an innocent life. Of course, Laura was still haunted by the thought of the man not making it out.
"…and general lawlessness. And for these crimes you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your souls."
A rather tight-fitting noose was slipped around Laura's neck.
As the hangman reached for the lever that would drop the two pirates to their deaths, someone in the crowd shouted "Move!" to the rest.
Will could be seen rushing forward, sword raised.
He threw the weapon into the wood near the bottom of the gallows, a trick he had used in the blacksmith shop before the actual start of the little adventure, just as Jack and Laura lost the flooring beneath their feet.
Laura had to fight Jack for the piece of metal under them, the only thing between life and death.
She was so busy trying to stay alive at that moment, that Laura did not notice Will fighting his way onto the gallows and manage to cut the rope securing the nooses.
Dropping down, the young woman managed to get free of both the noose and the hand-ties while Jack and Will used the former's length of rope to trip all of the soldiers between the scaffold and the tower.
Laura followed right behind them after stealing an officer's sword to defend herself from the endless flow of British.
Just as Laura thought her luck was coming back, she was cornered on the side next to Jack and Will against the pillar closest to the ocean.
Norrington walked through the mass of red and addressed Will.
"I thought we might have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt, but not from you."
The attention continued to be on Will as the pirates tested the sharpness of the bayonets pointed at them.
"On our return to Port Royal," the Governor stated, "I granted you clemency. And this is how you thank me? By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate!"
Laura tried scooting away from the gathering since the attention was not at all on her, but she was grabbed and shoved towards Jack.
"And a good man," Will was arguing.
Jack looked at his partner and mouthed,
"That's me."
Meanwhile, the older Turner twin continued,
"If all I have achieved here is that the hangman will earn three pairs of boots instead of two, so be it. At least my conscience is clear."
"You forget your place, Turner," Norrington challenged.
"It's right here," Will replied, "…between you, Jack, and Laura."
-Finally, I'm noticed-
Standing beside Will and holding onto his arm, Elizabeth said,
"As is mine."
"Elizabeth!" the Governor cried out with shock before ordering the soldiers, "Lower your weapons. For goodness' sake put them down!"
Laura breathed a sigh of relief as the bayonets were lowered.
"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Norrington asked his day-long fiancé.
"It is," the British woman answered.
"Finally," Laura breathed, only to get a raised eyebrow from Will.
Jack then looked slightly uncomfortable and looked up at the parrot wobbling on a standard at the same time as Laura before stepping forward, saying,
"Well! I'm actually feeling rather good about this."
To the Governor, he said,
"I think we've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually…Ecumenically…Grammatically?"
Then he turned to the Commodore.
"I want you to know that I was rooting for you, mate. Know that."
Next, he said to Elizabeth,
"Elizabeth…it would never have worked between us, darling. I'm sorry."
-Good…?-
Finally, he looked at Will.
"Will…nice hat."
"Alright, Jack, quit delaying," Laura said.
"Friends!" the older pirate called. "This is the day that you will always remember as the day that…"
The rest of his words were lost as he tripped over the battlement and dove into the water below.
Grinning at Jack's stupidity, Laura turned to Elizabeth.
"Miss Swann, it was a pleasure working with you. I hope that our next meeting will be a bit less adventurous, although it is enjoyable either way. Will," she continued, addressing her brother, "you still don't recognize me as more than just another pirate you adventured with?"
When he the young man simply gave her an utterly confused look, Laura laughed through her words as she went on. "Good luck, you two. I have a feeling you're going to need it."
Then, shaking her head, she jumped over the side of the fortress and into the ocean after Jack.
A minute later, she climbed up the ladder of the waiting Pearl. Jack had just swung onto the ship with a rope (courtesy of the crew).
On the spur of the moment, Laura ran over to Anamaria at the helm and instantly began talking.
"Anamaria, I know that you don't have a very good relationship with Jack…and he owes you a ship, but he has been searching for this magnificent vessel for ten years, now. I don't mean to be rude or anything…but, if you let him have this ship, I would help you find another one."
The other woman was staring at Laura through slitted eyes for what seemed like hours before she finally answered.
"Fine. But don't expect me to take too many orders while I'm still here…and you'd better find me another ship soon, or may just take this one back."
"Oh, thank you," Laura breathed.
She flashed a smile at Jack as they passed each other.
He went to the helm, where Laura knew that Anamaria would relinquish her place as captain.
Meanwhile the forgotten Turner strolled to the stern of the Black Pearl, once again captained by the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, stood by the rail, and watched the horizon, waiting for her next adventure.
She never asked to be known as a ruthless pirate with a bounty on her head, but she accepted it and would enjoy the life fate brought her.
Once again, thank you for reading. I never thought that a simple rough-draft on paper could turn into such a detailed and fun story. The next chapter will start at the beginning of "Dead Man's Chest" with a little overview of what happened in between.
Please, R&R!